TUI’s All-Or-Nothing Summer Recovery Plan Relies on Southern Europe


Skift Take

The tour operator has taken major steps to lower its cost base. Financially, it's prepared for the next few months, but that's counting on tourists flooding back this summer.

Fritz Joussen isn’t a glass half-full person; he prefers it filled to the top. At least that’s the approach the TUI CEO is taking to steer the tour operator back to recovery, eyeing opportunities most hopefully in southern Europe for now. Speaking on Wednesday's 2020 first-half earnings call, he said he'd prefer hotels fully occupied in half of its markets this summer, rather than half-full across all destinations — as right now it's all about cashflow.

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But this new approach comes as the travel giant outlined potential cuts of 8,000 employees as it seeks to take out 30 percent of its overheads. Global Realignment This bad news came first in the presentation to analysts, as Joussen shared details of a new program to make TUI leaner, less capital intensive and more digital. "We need to be significantly changing our company, he said. "More lean, more agile, less c